The Salvation Army

Ontario Central-East Division

Public Relations Department
820 Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa
(613) 233-8428

July 15, 2017

Good afternoon, Councillor Fleury.

Thank you for your letter and expression of appreciation for The Salvation Armys commitment to
invest in a $50 million purpose-built facility. Innovation in design, program delivery and client
services are all part of this development proposal, and goes far beyond an emergency shelter.

As you know, The Salvation Army is not relocating the Ottawa Booth Centre, we are building a new
model; a new and transformative, Barry Hobin designed facility that is dedicated to serving our
clients that need care and assistance. With fewer emergency shelter beds than our current facility,
and the vast majority of rooms dedicated to programming that helps our clients back on their feet,
the Housing First Policy and 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan will be supported in a
significant way.

Additionally, the Hub will have a significant portion of the building dedicated to community
accessible meeting rooms, open community space, and a broad range of programs and services
focused on the extended community. To that end, we strongly believe that it would have been
helpful, to you and the residents of Vanier, to have accepted our offer to have our team, including
Barry Hobin, provide an overview of the project at the recent Monday night and Friday night
community meetings. We believe that once residents understand the nature and the services to be
provided in the new Community Hub, they will be more apt to support the project and further
understand that this will bring with it hundreds of employees and volunteers who will animate the
street in a positive way and act as a catalyst to improve the environment.

Over the past several years, we have been working collaboratively in an effort to address
community concerns and challenges that exist as a result of the over-concentration of emergency
shelter services in the ByWard Market. By year end and at your request, The Salvation Army will
have spent over $350,000 on additional security and the creation of a new secured outdoor
smoking area as a temporary solution to address these challenges.

There has also been active movement to decentralize the concentration of facilities in the ByWard
Market and agreement by all stakeholders to do so, including yourself and Mayor Jim Watson.

An extensive consultation process of over two-and-a-half years began in January 2015, where The
Salvation Army met with yourself and others from the City of Ottawa to discuss the 333 Montreal
Road location. At that time we discussed the site selection process, our extensive real estate
search, and a variety of other topics including some that you raised relating to partnerships, who
would potentially buy the current site, the neighbourhood dynamics and zoning issues.

At that time, you indicated that you were supportive of a concept where the design of a new
facility did not replicate the current structure in the Market; a facility that did not resemble
institutional use and had a wow factor that the Ottawa Booth Centre does not have.

We met again with you and others from the City of Ottawa in April 2015 where we outlined our
intent to initiate a conditional offer on the 333 Montreal Road property. This also included due
diligence requirements, timelines, the concept of this 100,000 square foot facility and the
programs and services that we would be delivering. This was also where we discussed additional
community-focused elements of the facility such as the social enterprise coffee shop and the
provisioning of space in the facility that could also be used for community activities or events.

In October 2015, you had followed up with Marc Provost and indicated that the sooner concepts
were available, the better. This was when the City of Ottawa began looking at alternative
Government owned site options that already had the zoning for this type of facility. We proactively
worked with you, your office, Janice Burelle of Social Services and Peter Radke from the City's Real
Estate Department on possible City owned properties for consideration.

The criterion for this search were provided to you and the City at that time, and after an extensive
search by the City of Ottawa, the result was that no suitable land options were found.

As you know, The Salvation Army is a charity and we are always working to maximize the use of
every dollar. Finding a site that meets our criterion within a reasonable budget is challenging
enough - all stakeholders and all partners, through our extensive engagement with CBRE, have
been aware of our site search for well over 2 years. We are committed to spending the bulk of this
$50 million initiative on a comprehensive, integrated and leading-edge facility that is in the best
interest of our vulnerable clients and families, and is a model for Canada.

For your reference, and in response to your request, please find below the criterion that had been
provided to you on more than one occasion. The criterion is also available in the planning
documents that were submitted, and are publicly available on the City of Ottawa website.

Proximity to key services (clinics, pharmacies, employment and medical services, day
programs, etc.);
Directly accessible by transit and by foot (ideally in no more than 30 minutes);
Centrally located on an arterial road, in a mixed-use (commercial, business, residential)
area, preferably with two access points;
Can accommodate the current and future needs and allows for flexibility;
Must include ample space for parking, client courtyards, and community space; and,
Located within an area that will utilize the services provided.

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In November 2015, you reaffirmed your support of the project to us and your desire to have
another sit-down meeting. Over the course of the subsequent months, we continued to update you
and others on the progress of the planning and concept designs for the proposed facility on
Montreal Road.

As we approached the fall of 2016, the safety and security issues on George Street had become a
significant challenge. You had publicly stated that you had lost faith in The Salvation Armys
ability to assure the safety of people accessing the services at our shelter. You indicated at that
time that if The Salvation Army took the lead in protecting our clients with a monitored
designated smoking area, this would allow community stakeholders to take responsibility for their
part of the issue.

Throughout the fall and winter months, we met on numerous occasions to discuss these issues,
how we can best address them in our current facility, and also how the new proposed facility on
Montreal Road would be addressing these challenges in a new and innovative way. Through the
creation of outdoor spaces that our clients can access safely and securely, set back significantly
from the sidewalk and away from potential negative influences, community stakeholders can be
confident that The Salvation Army would be doing its part in preventing this type of challenge
from being replicated in the future.

At your request, we met in March of 2017 at the Ottawa Booth Centre. You had requested that Lt.-
Col. Sandra Rice, our Divisional Commander come to Ottawa for a tour and discussion.
Unfortunately due to a scheduling conflict, Jeff Barrett, Divisional Secretary for Business
Administration came from Toronto as Lt.-Col. Rice's representative to tour the Ottawa Booth
Centre with both yourself and Mayor Jim Watson. At that time, we discussed the ongoing
temporary improvements to the Ottawa Booth Centre, the evident challenges that the Ottawa
Booth Centres physical structure and location continue to present, as well as our need to build a
new building for a new way of delivering services at 333 Montreal Road.

In April of 2017, at the offices of Hobin Architecture, we took the opportunity to present you with
our proposed final design where the architects reviewed the plans and sought additional feedback
from you. It was at that time that, amongst other things, we agreed to address the need for a
retail/social enterprise coffee shop, improvements to the Thrift Store building and facade, and
discussed ways to improve access in and out of Montreal Road.

As we were finalizing our planning proposal and preparing to submit these to the City of Ottawa,
you again were kept informed of the process and even asked us at that time to delay the
announcement of the proposal submission until you got back from your vacation. We respectfully
agreed and delayed the announcement, along with any advanced community consultation until
you returned.

In fact, as we look back at all of the meetings over the past two-and-a-half years, not only have we
never been requested to engage community groups in discussion or consultation, but there was

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insistence by yourself and the City staff to keep this proposal for 333 Montreal Road private until
the announcement on June 22nd, 2017.

We will not halt our Planning Proposal submission and feel strongly that we have proven to be
extensively engaged in pre-consultation on this project with you and the City of Ottawa.

The Salvation Army remains committed to the proposal that has been submitted for the
redevelopment of 333 Montreal Road. We are actively following the City of Ottawa guidelines and
best practices associated with the Development Application Process and look forward to
continued consultation with the community in the weeks and months ahead. We are responding to
all inquiries from the public and media, and as you know we have launched a public website that
explains the Community Hub Project and provides answers to common questions or concerns.
This website is accessible at www.333montrealroad.ca

For well over 100 years, The Salvation Army has been committed to helping and meeting the
needs of the most vulnerable in Ottawa. We have a vision of the future that is progressive,
inclusive and contributes to building an exemplary and modern environment steeped in the
principles of a healthy community. We believe that this facility, located at 333 Montreal Road in
the Nations Capital, will be an example of a 21st century model to be emulated by other
municipalities throughout the country and North America.

Rest assured that we remain committed to working with you and our community to address
concerns and explain the facts of this new Community Hub. The Salvation Army in Ottawa has
worked well with you and all of City Council. We know that you have taken a leadership role in
working to make the Nation's Capital a more hospitable and caring community that will lift our
most vulnerable out of poverty and get our neighbours the essential help they need. Your support
of the City's Housing First Policy and your role as Chair of Ottawa Housing are proof of this.

We thank you for your support of our organization and we look forward to continuing our positive
work together.

Kindest regards,

Glenn van Gulik

Area Director, Public Relations and Development Eastern Region
The Salvation Army, Ontario Central-East Division

cc: Mayor Jim Watson

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